If I had $290 billion: Breaking Down the Cost of Medication Compliance

Medication Compliance is one of the biggest costs to worldwide healthcare systems. 50% of all patients do not take their medication as prescribed and this costs the U.S. healthcare system alone $290 billion per year. That’s a pretty massive figure that can be interpreted in several ways.

We can start by breaking down that $290 billion to show exactly how low compliance rates create such a huge cost:

Now let’s consider that $290 billion cost in the context of the economy:

Finally, we can compare the cost of medication compliance to other things that cost $290 billion. Imagine if everyone adhered to their medication and compliance rates were 100%:

We could use that $290 billion to bring proper sanitation and water to 500 million residents of the developing world

We could single handedly double the global investment in clean energy

We could to bail-out the Greek economy

We could construct and operate two International Space Stations!

In addition to the $290 billion, poor medication compliance has a human cost. It is responsible for 125,000 deaths per year in the United States alone. Millions suffer illnesses longer and more severely than they would otherwise. It’s little wonder that the WHO has stated: “Increasing the effectiveness of [medication compliance] interventions may have a far greater impact on the health of the population than any improvement in speciﬁc medical treatment”.

Fortunately, MEMOTEXT is at the forefront of improving patient medicine and drug compliance with clinically validated evidence-based personalized programs. Not only have we sustained increases of 31.4% in patient medication compliance, our programs also have a 91%+ user retention rate. MEMOTEXT prides itself on offering compliance solutions to all healthcare stakeholders that are affordable and cost-effective, especially when compared to $290 billion per year.

With an MSc in the Theory and History of International Relations from the London School of Economics, Noah brings several years of communications experience to MEMOTEXT. Prior to joining, he worked for the Government of Ontario, several small businesses and political campaigns. As someone who loves communicating good ideas to help make the world a better place, Noah is thrilled to be a part of the MEMOTEXT team.